Peafowl is a species of
birds that include two Asiatic species (the blue or
Indian peafowl originally of India and Sri Lanka and the
green peafowl of Myanmar, Indochina, and Java) and one African species (the
Congo peafowl native only to the
Congo Basin) of bird in the
genera Pavo and
Afropavo of the
Phasianidae family, the pheasants and their allies, known for the male's piercing call and, among the Asiatic species, his extravagant eye-spotted tail
covert feathers which he displays as part of a
courtship ritual. The term
peacock is properly reserved for the male; the female is known as a
peahen, and the immature offspring are sometimes called
peachicks.